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Re: [TowerTalk] 160M Antenna puzzlement

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 160M Antenna puzzlement
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2021 12:06:38 -0800
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 12/20/2021 10:11 AM, Jeff Blaine wrote:
The difference between 8 short radials and 64 long ones is about 3 dB per N6LF.  That's half an S-unit.  It's significant, but in the scheme of things, having a manageable SWR that you can use an amp with (+10 dB on TX) - and a dedicated RX antenna (lower noise floor) will get a guy working more stations in either contesting or DX - than a great ground system alone.

Both points are right on, BUT -- just as most of us are alligators so need better RX, we need a bigger signal to get over their noise too. When I was running a manually tuned Ten Tec Titan amp and S&P up and down 160, I wouldn't re-tune the amp, letting power drop a couple of dB. When I did re-tune and call again, I'd get stations I'd missed. A couple of dB DOES make a difference when either signal is close to the noise.

73, Jim K9YC
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